America's Best

Newsweek came out with their list of "America's Best High Schools" again recently.  I'm proud of the good reputation my high school has so I like to check out the list, but again, my school didn't make the cut.  To find my school, you have to click around their site until you find this list.  Their reason it's not one of the "best"?

NEWSWEEK’s Challenge Index is designed to recognize schools that challenge average students. These top-performing schools, listed below in alphabetical order, were excluded from the list of top high schools because, despite their exceptional quality, their sky-high SAT and ACT scores indicate they have few or no average students.

So, apparently it's a list of "America's Best Average High Schools".  Study hard, average kids, someday you might get left off the list too!

My domain

I was thinking about domain names yesterday and I decided to check the availability of some names. I've known for a long time that stevenbrown.com is taken, but if you go to NetworkSolutions.com they allow you to check availability across multiple extensions (after the first search, "Select All Extensions") and it's an interesting measure. Of what I'm not sure, but it's interesting. For instance, stevenbrown is already taken for the following extensions:

• .com
• .net
• .org
• .info
• .tv
• .biz
• .name
• .co.uk
• .eu.

Surprisingly, many of them are not only taken, they're being actively used (and not just parked). This is in addition to the 12 'stevebrown' domains. In contrast, 'amberbrown' is taken for only .com, .net, and .name. The first is defunct (owned by the book publisher, I imagine) and the others are parked. Obviously a less common name, much like 'oliviabrown' (4) and 'carmenbrown' (3).

Even I, however, stand no chance against 'poop', which is taken for 16 of the 20 extensions given (or 'awesome', which is taken for 17). I wasn't brave enough to check out the status of these sites, however.

As mildly entertaining as this may be for you, the real reason I decided to post about this is because in my searches for variations on my name I came across this website -- swillard.com -- which epitomizes why the internet is awesome (and not poop). Enjoy.

Google Maps

Why is Google Maps so endlessly fascinating?. Here's an airplane I found near our house:

View Larger Map

Hezbollah

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2281184_3,00.html

Vinsanity

A great article about the over-hyping of Vince Young: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/colleges/13584508.htm

Conspiracy Theories

Think these devastating hurricanes are a fluke of nature? Read some good conspiracy theories here and here.

Mr. T Motivational Videos

Go here to learn how to overcome your social obstacles while reliving the 80s, thanks to Mr. T. "Treat your mother" is an especially good one!

Toilet Restaurant

You don't often find news at MSN, but they do have interesting stories. The best of the odd today: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8417691

Cool Toy

Check out this man toy: http://www.evatech.net/RCLM2006S.html

(Thanks to Dave Barry's Blog for the link)

Fun game

Here's a fun game my coworkers showed me at work called Guess the Google.

Name Generators

Hours of fun here: http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/generators.htm

CS Research Paper Generator

This is computer science at its best! Some guys at MIT were sick of all the lame conferences that were more interested in making money than supporting serious research, so they developed a Computer Science Paper Generator that generates papers that look solid at a glance, but when examined prove to be full of gibberish. They are hilarious to read, especially when you know what the terms mean!

They were successful in their efforts. A paper generated by their tool was accepted at a conference, but subsequently rejected when the news story came out. Read about it here.

To generate your own papers, go here.

Infinite Cat

The internet is a strange place... For proof, go to this site and click on the "Next Cat" icon as many times as suits your fancy :)

$28,000 Grilled Cheese Sandwich

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Old-sandwich-divine/2004/11/17/1100574501805.html

Fun Toy

Read about it here.

Need a bike?

You might want to reconsider using U-locks to secure your bike after visiting this page. Watch the video and read the comments. Interesting stuff.

Zombo.com

The funniest most useless site I've seen in a while: Zombo.com

(Make sure your speakers are on. Don't bother to follow the links.)

Atkins Boring

Never having been a believer of the Atkins diet myself, I was amused to see some other reasons for its success in this article.

SponsorCar presents the Sponsor 500

I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head at this one: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=sportsNews&storyID=5861050

Set your phasers to stun!

There used to be a time when Dick Tracy's two-way tv/radio wristwatch seemed preposterous, but with the way electronics have improved, I don't think anyone would be surprised if it were to come out soon. Apparently now scientists have taken a page from that paragon of futuristic technology, Star Trek, and have created what amounts to a phaser - using lasers to direct a paralyzing high-energy beam. Who knows, maybe Star Trek isn't quite as far-fetched as it used to seem. Beam me up Scotty!